Review: Love's Triumph

Love's Triumph by Terence Crawford
Darlinghurst Theatre Company
29 March 2007


It's the opening night. A home crowd and I am back down to the Darlinghurst Theatre. Half the audience are reclining on the sofa's in the foyer and the other half taking in the night air on the balcony.

I've dragged along a friend who has just got of a plane after a year in Argentina.

"We're seeing a show. That'll either make or break your jet-lag."

I throw a beer her way and we head in. The place is chockers, as it should be. I'm aware that the preview the previous night didn't happen. Tech this, tech that.

With the turn around time required for most independent shows, it's lucky that they even get on. It's usually bump-in Sunday and build. Monday, build a bit more. Tuesday tech and then preview Wednesday.

So this is really a preview, but filled to the rafters.

The stage is closed off by a huge pair of lips with a curtain. It's an adult version of a Punch and Judy frame. A few of the actors are loitering around on the stage, making the transition from the red-light district up the road pretty easy to follow.

And with a flourish, they scamper away, the curtain flies open and the set comes alive. Flats of ferries and streetscape's, a revolving velvet lounge, and a gaggle of actors dressed in the most outrageous, vibrant and colourful clothes.

Hyper-real Kings Cross circa 1990 with every carefully-crafted character stereotype you can lay your hands on. Hyper-real Kings Cross where everyone speaks in verse; the madam, the corrupt pig sergeant, the prostitute, a bookish tail ender, two out-of-town fellas from Broken Creek and a evangelical deep south preacher and his cute buxom wife. This is a Sydney that is quickly being lost. Now everyone is encouraged to follow the fella up the front carrying his AWA.
And just like in Punch and Judy, this production plays on stereotype so cleverly, that you can't help but feel like a little kid, waiting to see what's going to happen next. Who's going to dong who? Who's going to get in trouble next?

It's brilliantly simple stuff made up of gregarious costumes, adventurous staging and a soundtrack that is the icing on the drug fueled cake.

This director/designer combination is one of the best that I have seen on the independent circuit. The tone is perfectly placed creating a fantastic tableaux of Sydney, its sites, its sounds and its smells.

It was also a welcome homecoming for my companion. The jet lag was warded off and it settled her into quintessential Sydney.



Image: Love's Triumph courtesy of the Darlinghurst Theatre Company